


Dance of the Inevitable

by Telaryn



Category: Leverage
Genre: Breakfast, Domestic Bliss, Family, Introspection, Multi, Polyamory, Team as Family, Threesome, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:18:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9137752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: On the night Nate proposed to Sophie, Eliot was free to give his heart to Parker and Hardison.  Hacker and thief can't see to all his needs, however.Luckily jealousy isn't in the Leverage family lexicon.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yeoman014](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeoman014/gifts).



> Your comment about Nate/Sophie/Eliot being an interesting threesome in the right hands warmed my heart. Hopefully you find my hands competent enough.
> 
> We're glad you joined us this year and hope you decide to play again!

He had the most perfectly formed back of anyone she’d ever seen. Sophie lightly trailed her fingertips across the smooth, tanned skin, mapping every slope and ridge to a degree Eliot would never have allowed when he was awake. The hitter’s breathing was deep and regular as he slept, without a hint of the hyper-vigilance she suspected shadowed his ordinary days and nights.

Looking back, Sophie understood now in a way she never could have while their story was unfolding, that Eliot belonged in both of the worlds forming in the midst of their strange little family. From day one he’d been big brother and protector to Parker and Hardison; a position that continued to this day, long after he’d joined them in their bed. His relationship to Nate and Sophie had always had a different flavor; from the beginning he’d grounded them, helped keep their relationship drama from exploding into something capable of annihilating the Leverage team before they even had a chance to find their footing.

“Can I interest either of you in breakfast?” Nate’s voice, low and soft, slipped into the skin to skin rapport she was building with Eliot. Biting her lower lip, Sophie turned to look at him. Dark curls still tousled from sleep, robe tied so that she could see just enough bare chest to appreciate what was under the soft, heavy fabric – she was half tempted to tell him to screw breakfast and come back to join them in bed. On the other hand, if her calculations were even close to correct, he’d been cooking for the better part of an hour, and now that she thought to sense it the smells coming from the kitchen were delicious enough to start her mouth watering.

“Eliot,” she murmured, pushing the heavy fall of his hair aside, and kissing the side of his neck. “Nate’s made us food.” She kissed him again, then bit gently into the skin over his pulse – gradually bearing down until his smooth, regular breathing was replaced by a low moan of pleasure. “Wake up,” Sophie added, kissing him again.

“That is just not fair,” Nate sighed, but when she turned to look at him again, he was already heading back for the kitchen.

Eliot chose that moment to turn – shifting onto his back, so that when she looked back at him, his eyes were open and looking at her in a way that tightened her belly. “Nate, um…breakfast,” she offered, glancing meaningfully at the door. When she looked back at Eliot, the hitter was smiling at her.

“It’ll keep.”  
***************************************  
As the sounds from the bedroom gradually became louder and more purposeful, Nate set the oven to warm, and put the three omelets inside. He thought for half a second about joining them, but he had woken that morning with mingled feelings of peace and contentment at realizing he’d spent nearly the entire night with Eliot in his arms. Sophie’s arms and legs had been tangled up in the mix as well, but the knowledge that he’d been trusted by the hitter to such a profound degree was something he needed time to process. And sex – while admittedly tempting – would have disrupted that.

They’d never actually talked about Eliot having a place in his and Sophie’s relationship – it was more like one day Nate had woken up and realized that it was a fait accompli, as the saying went. Evenings spent letting Eliot guide them through different culinary experiences had naturally expanded to movie nights in Nate’s apartment, and later into theater outings and concerts in the park.

Pouring himself a cup of coffee, Nate took his customary seat at the tiny breakfast table. After all this time he still couldn’t pinpoint any one particular thought or motivation behind him kissing Eliot that first night. They’d been watching ‘Dr. Strangelove’, and Sophie had fallen asleep halfway through the film. Her place on the couch had pushed Nate further into Eliot’s spot than he ordinarily would have gone, but the hitter had automatically shifted to make room for him.

To this day Nate remembered the irony of the moment as Sterling Hayden’s General Ripper was pointing out to Peter Sellers’ Group Captain Mandrake how clueless he was being about what was going on around him, while Nate was growing hyper-aware of the light brush of Eliot’s body against his own. 

_”We haven't agreed to anything for years,”_ was the exact line where he’d risked a glance at Eliot, only to find the hitter watching him with a heat in his gaze that had nothing to do with what was playing out on screen.

_”In fact, a lot of people say we never will.”_

Nate suspected he’d moved a half second faster than Eliot, leaning in for the inevitable kiss, but between one heartbeat and the next the two of them were kissing as if nothing else mattered in the world.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what you’re thinking about?” Startled, Nate looked up to see Eliot standing in the doorway to the kitchen – his own robe tied even more loosely than Nate’s was. “Sophie’ll be out in a second,” he added, glancing back over his shoulder. “I, ah…apparently made more of a mess than she was willing to deal with.” Padding forward, he leaned down to give Nate a deep, solid good morning kiss. “You should have stayed.” He carded his fingers through the tangle of Nate’s curls, sending a shiver racing down the mastermind’s back.

“Somebody had to keep an eye on breakfast,” Nate said, once he could trust his voice. Eliot had already drifted to the stove and was retrieving the warmed plates. “When do you have to get back?”

“I told Parker and Hardison I’d be back in time for dinner tonight,” Eliot said, bringing the plates to the table and busying himself getting the rest of what they needed to eat. As he passed behind Nate, he kissed the mastermind’s hair. “You didn’t tell me what you were thinking about before.”

Nate grinned, leaning back in his chair. “I was thinking about how we should probably watch the end of Dr. Strangelove at some point.”  
********************************  
Eliot paused for just a second at Nate’s words, biting down on his lower lip as his cock grew unexpectedly hard once more. _Didn’t expect to end up with that as a kink,_ he thought, forcing himself to move again. He supposed it really was inevitable though; their first tentative kiss that night had escalated quickly, and by the time Schmuck and VonKlutz had begun discussing the abandonment of monogamy as necessary for the future of the human race Eliot had Nate on his back on the carpet, and was stripping him out of his soft, well-worn jeans.

“I suppose you’re right,” he admitted with a grin. Pouring out two cups of coffee, he filled Sophie’s tea kettle and set it to heat.

“You used some of the salsa,” he said, catching a whiff of cilantro as he took his seat and slid Nate’s coffee over to him.

The mastermind nodded. “You were right about needing a sharper taste to counter-balance the creaminess of the eggs. I also started buying a spicier sausage.”

“Sophie was okay with that?” Eliot liked the level of interest he was starting to see in Nate as the older man talked about cooking, but one of the first things he’d taken the time to learn about each member of his family was how far their tastes could be pushed before shutting down. Sophie’s tastes were very British as a rule, with small forays into French and Tuscan cuisine. Nothing too spicy or adventurous.

“Sophie has learned to take a few chances in her culinary life,” the grifter announced, sweeping into the kitchen just as the kettle hissed for Eliot’s attention. “And to keep the antacids handy for those time when the risk outstrips the reward.” She came around the table to kiss Nate on the cheek before taking her own seat. “Cheers,” she said, nodding at Eliot as he passed her a cup of steaming hot water and set her favorite loose leaf tea and tea strainer at her plate.

It was a dance, these days he spent with Nate and Sophie – they moved with and around each other in an easy harmony, only rarely missing a step. Good food, good conversation – theatre, concerts, and days and nights spent exploring each other’s bodies. It was comfortable and safe in a way Eliot had begun to believe he would never know again.

 _And yet…_ And yet his heart inevitably called him home, where everything was light and noise and adventure, nothing was predictable, and _safe_ was the furthest thing from anyone’s thoughts. The sex was just as good – it just fed a very different side of the hitter’s soul.

“You’re thinking about absent love,” Sophie mused, her gaze only mildly teasing as she sipped her tea.

Caught, Eliot couldn’t stop the flush of heat rising in his cheeks. “Just counting my blessings. I never imagined a life like this for myself.”

“A good one, yes?” Nate asked.

Eliot nodded. “Better than I ever expected I’d deserve.”


End file.
